All journal articles, other references, patents, and patent applications that are identified in this patent application are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The role of nutrition and the positive influence of dietary-nutritional, herbal-botanical ingredients as they relate to optimal energy production, neurophysiology, and neurotransmitter synthesis/formation cannot be understated.
Physiology textbooks describe the brain as the most metabolically demanding of all organs (86). Representing only 2% of the total body weight, the brain consumes 50% of the circulating blood glucose, and over 20% of circulating oxygen. In essence, neurons have energy needs more than twice that of other cells. Since neural requirements for energy substantially exceed that of other cells in the body, Krebs-Cycle intermediates are metabolically essential ingredients for optimal ATP generation, optimal neural metabolism, and thus, improved mental acuity.
Also, neurotransmitters are naturally occurring molecules that act as biochemical messengers relaying nerve signals between neurons. Adequate production of the different types of neurotransmitters is responsible for proper mental functioning. Deficiencies of these neurotransmitters interfere with behavior, mood, concentration and memory.
Based on the brain's need for energy production and neurotransmitter synthesis, scientists postulate that the chemistry of our diet is a critical element in the subsequent triggering of neurotransmitter synthesis and efficient energy production, which jointly lead to normal/optimal cognitive function. Thus, a new class of research has evolved that investigates the effect of various dietary, nutritional and herbal constituents known to improve learning and memory. This class of “smart nutrients and foods” has been termed nootropics—meaning literally “toward the mind.”
Exhaustive analytical investigation into nootropics has been ongoing, and several studies have confirmed the necessity of several key nutritional ingredients to mental health. In particular, researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) mounted a study to examine how marginal nutritional deficiencies affect memory and mental function. They meticulously determined the nutritional status of twenty-eight healthy people age sixty and older, and then gave them challenging mental tasks to measure cognitive function. Significant relationships were noted between nutritional status and test performance. Subjects who had optimal levels of certain nutrients tested better than those with nutrient deficiencies. The nutrient groups' electrocardiogram (EEG) rating, which assesses activity in the brain, indicated superior brain functioning. This study suggested that even mild nutritional deficits might be responsible for cognitive decline and changes in brain function. The strongest associations were with thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), and iron. Beta-carotene, vitamin C, and zinc levels were also predictive of performance on mental function tests (1).
A much larger, long term study performed at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine followed 137 people between age sixty-six and ninety for six years. The participants in this study were educated, well nourished and had no memory problems. Their vitamin status was determined at the beginning of the study and again after six years. At the study's conclusion they were given tests determining cognitive function. Test performance was related to past and current nutritional status, and significant associations between mental function and vitamin status were noted. Those in the study group who had higher blood levels and intake of vitamins in the B-complex family (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folate) performed better in tests of abstract thinking. High blood levels of vitamin C were associated with increased ability in performing visual and spatial tasks, and higher intakes of vitamin E, A, B6 and B12 correlated with better scores on both visual and spatial tasks, and higher intake of vitamins E, A, B6, and B12 correlated with better scores on visual and spatial recall and/or abstract thinking. The participants in this study who, on their own, had taken vitamin supplements, did better on difficult visual and spatial tests and on tests of abstract thinking (2).
In many children and teens, daily nutritional supplementation has shown to manifest profound cognitive benefits. For example, adding nutritional supplements to the diet has resulted in increased intelligence in children, even in the absence of malnutrition or poor cognitive function (24). In some cases, the benefits include the resolution of many of the symptoms associated with various learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder (ADD), which is a term currently used to describe a condition that has had multiple labels in the past. Currently, more than ten prominent studies have shown that learning disabled/ADD children and adults suffering with similar symptomatology have special dietary needs for DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), thiamine, vitamin C, pyridoxine, calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35). In many of the previously referenced studies, when these nutrients are added to the diets of subjects suffering with learning disabilities/ADD, some symptoms are shown to significantly diminish, and in many cases resolve.
This invention provides unique formulas of nootropic nutrients and herbal extracts designed to provide specific dietary-nutritional and herbal-botanical support factors for cognitive function. Administration of the compositions based on these formula results in the efficient formation of mental energy and the synthesis of key neurotransmitters associated with memory, focus and concentration. The present formulas have increased bioavailability of constituent components and therefore have an enhanced synergistic affect on mental health.
The ingredients of the present invention are necessary constituents, co-factors and synergists in the formation and synthesis of the following energy substrates and neurotransmitters: acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine/epinephrine and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). All of these neurotransmitters and energy factors are intricately involved in mental cogmtion, neurological (as well as systemic) metabolism, the regulation of mood, and the ability to focus and concentrate, as well as learning, memory and numerous creative and analytical cognitive processes.
As a convenient addition to the daily diet, the formulas of the present invention provide a unique combination of energy precursors, neurological support antioxidants and nutrients, as well as many nootropic ingredients in their most bio available/absorbable forms to provide enhanced efficacy.